Healing Wounds: Photo exhibition

Dubai, April 21, 2019 – For the first time in the UAE, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF), in collaboration with Alliance Francaise and the French Business Council, is hosting “Healing Wounds”, a photo exhibition highlighting the stories of patients treated at the MSF Reconstructive Surgery Hospital in Amman, Jordan. The hospital was set up in 2006 in response to the high numbers of severely injured people MSF saw during the Iraq war. Since then the hospital has grown to serve patients from across the region, including Syria, Palestine and Yemen.

The photos were taken by award-winning Italian photographer and journalist Alessio Mamo in 2017. He visited the hospital every day for a month to build up relationships with the patients. In 2018, he won the World Press Photo, second prize singles, People category, with his picture of Manal, a young Iraqi girl hospitalised there.

Alexandre Crubezy, MSF Country Representative in Jordan:

What has struck me since I began as Country Representative last year is the amount of humanity that pours out of the programme. The humanity of the hospital staff, all focused on the patients’ well-being, all the compassion coming out in the daily work and the constant search for improvement. The humanity of the patients themselves, of course, as they deal with extreme experiences, but still get up and carry on living, still looking forward for a better life, still hoping in the future. What is interesting to observe too are the links that the programme creates between people who were not meant to meet, and the way they find empathy in their conditions. This is what Alessio and Marta have managed to remarkably highlight through their work, and they need to be thanked for that.

Alexandre Crubezy, MSF Country Representative in Jordan.

At 7:30 pm on Sunday 28th April, MSF will screen a short documentary in the theatre of the Alliance Francaise Dubai building ahead of the official launch of the photo exhibition. This unique documentary tells the story of a Yemeni patient who was treated at the hospital and today lives with his family in Amman. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with Alessio Mamo, alongside Dr Rasheed Al-Sammarraie, Head of Reconstructive Surgery at the Amman Hospital, Alexandre Crubezy, and Marta Bellingreri, co-author of the exhibition.

We are very glad to host the photographic exhibition “Healing Wounds” at La Galerie of the Alliance Française Dubai, especially during the UAE’s Year of Tolerance. It is part of our mission in Dubai to shine a light on initiatives that serve different communities and promote people empowerment. A big thank you to MSF for all their efforts and for giving hope to people for a better future.

Agnès Lopez Cruz, Managing Director of the French Business Council Dubai & Northern Emirates, which has also partnered with MSF for the event, added, “The French Business Council Dubai & Northern Emirates is pleased to support this photographic exhibition in Dubai. We commend our member, MSF, for their achievements in the region and worldwide, bringing a better care for those in need.”

The 20 photos in the exhibition, previously displayed in Amman and various Italian cities, will be on show at La Galerie, Alliance Française Dubai from 28th April to 4th May 2019.

The reconstructive surgery programme (RSP) in Amman was established to treat people injured in war and unrest. With a high-level of surgical expertise and extensive facilities, the hospital provides a base for MSF to treat patients with complicated injuries who could not be treated in their own country. The RSP was set up in 2006 in response to the significant medical needs generated by the Iraq war, but today treats people from across the region.

In addition to sophisticated surgery, the RSP provides psychological healthcare, physiotherapy and a safe space to recover, for adults and children who have faced far too much violence. MSF has also initiated a learning and training initiative at RSP where experts apply leaner centred methodologies to promote the development of highly specialized medical and paramedical competences